Big differences on SpecFP results for gcc and icc

[Scott Robert Ladd]

Uros Bizjak wrote:
> I think I'm not the only person, that finds these results rather
> "dissapointing". As Scott is currently writing a paper on gcc's FP
> performance, perhaps someone has an explanation, why gcc's results are
> so low on Pentium4 for these tests?

Interesting results.

I'm not a big fan of Spec; too many compilers focus specifically on
getting good spec numbers at the expense of other tests, just like video
card manufacturers focus on getting Doom 3 running fast while failing to
perform well on other applications.

That said, I know that ICC consistently produces fast code for
computationally bound applications, on the Pentium 4 at least. This
includes real-world applications like video codecs, where ICC often
produces code that is 10-15% faster.

The paper I'm working on takes a slightly different view of floating
point, and will include some "different" benchmarks.

..Scott